Couldn't See it Coming
by ImDefinitelySane
Summary: Yogscast. Little bit of Rythna.. :P
1. Sick

I feel sick. I can't stand without almost falling to the floor form dizziness, the nausea and headache are unbearable, the fever is unrelenting, and hiding it all from the others is near impossible.

But i'm managing it. its been almost a week and Honeydew and Xephos are none the wiser of the weakened state. If the two people i spend almost every waking moment with, are still unaware of my illness then the chances of anyone else noticing are slim.

I have to keep it that way. I can't afford for word of my weakness to spread. There are countless people that deem me a threat and would take this time to get rid of me once and for all. Like Rythian.

I think its clear why i don't want anyone to know.

Unfortunately that means i can't ask for help either. Especially from the two who are known for their inability to keep a secret. I trust them, but i'm not stupid. I can't ask for their help. I have to figure out what this illness is while being effected be said illness. Not the hardest thing i've ever done but certainly not the easiest.

I can't think straight, especially after working a full day at Honeydew Inc. I have tomorrow off to do with as i please, and the thought of sleeping though it sounds wonderful, but i can't waist the only spare time i am liable to get within the year. I have to do some tests and make a diagnosis, so i can begin treatment. i dont think i'll be able to hide it for much longer….

I struggle to make my way to my kitchen and pour myself a glass of water. I down the cool liquid, placing the now empty glass on the counter. i had taken a potion to try and bring the fever down, but the taste of it refused to leave my mouth.

I groan as my stomach threatens to empty itself. i even have trouble keeping water down...i can't wait any longer to make a diagnosis...I rub my eyes as they start to burn again. they start to water and i sigh in frustration. They had decided to add themselves to my list of dysfunctional body parts a couple of days ago. since then they have been much more sensitive. to the point of even dim lights are too bright. it makes working with machines difficult…

I deside to go up to bed before they get to bad. After stumbling around my room with my eyes closed i'm able to find my bed. perhaps tripping and falling onto it isn't the most conventional way of going about it but it worked and i can't bring myself to care right now.

I snuggle up under the covers and curl up into a small ball. I sigh contently as the sweet embrace of sleep starts to take over my racing mind. For the first time in years i have plesent dreams and find myself enjoying my sleep.

And i dont want to wake.


	2. 20 percent Chance

Ugh….my head….The mild pain of a headache makes itself known as the fog of sleep starts to clear. I groan as my attempts at returning to sleep fail and the headache spikes then fades away completely. In its place are a pair of muffled voices. My mind is still a bit too hazy to make out what they are saying but they sound familiar…

I groan again and the voices fall silent. I hear footsteps and tilt my head in their direction. I try to open my eyes but something is covering them stopping me from doing so. I raise a hand to touch it and frown at how hard it is to lift my hand. I rub the material gently somehow making the jump from it's a cloth to they must be bandages.

I slip my thumb under them intending to pull them off when a hand grabs my wrist holding my hand in place.

"Leave it, Lalna"

I lift my head to face the voice aiming my eyes a few inches above where the voice came from, hoping I was looking at his face.

"Martyn?" Now that I'm more awake I'm able to identify the voice. I assume the other one I heard earlier belongs to Toby.

"Toby, can you go get some water?" I heard soft footsteps leave the room and mentally praise myself for being able to recognize the two without my sight.

I let my hand fall limp and Martyn releases it, letting it fall to my lap. I can hear him shuffle on his feet. He seems tense, which is unusual for the usually laid back and cheerful forest sprite. It causes a certain degree of anxiety to stir in the pit of my stomach.

The soft footsteps return and approach Martyn. The forest sprite whispers a thank you before pressing something against my lips.

"It's water. Drink it." I take the glass from his hand and drink the cool water gratefully. He takes the glass again when I'm finished and I hear the soft 'clunk' as he places it on the bedside table. I hear a soft rustling from behind where I assume the forest sprite is that can only be Toby fiddling with the rim of his hoodie as I have seen him do so many times before.

Martyn sighs and I return my attention to him. He almost sounds sad and that in itself is frightening. His voice is soft and sympathetic and I feel the anxiety increase.

"You should have told someone…"

"What?" I'm not sure the anxiety can get any worse at this point and I'm starting to feel ill.

"You should have told someone you were sick...They may have come to be sooner…" I can't see his face to tell how serious it really is but I think that might be even more frightening...My heart is racing and I can feel my body start to shake. I thought it was nothing. I thought I could fix it myself. I thought I would be alright. Martyn doesn't seem to think that. Martyn seems to think that I'm…

"A-Am I dying?" I ask unable to keep my voice steady Martyn doesn't reply at first and I think I might pass out . When he finally does respond his voice is a mix of anger and relief.

"Any longer and that may have been the case. You're lucky we found you Lalna or you may have been too gone to save. But if you do what you're told and keep those bandages on you have about an 80% chance of making a full recovery...But there is a 20% chance that..." He trails off and if I could see I may have grabbed his shoulders and shook him. But I just sit in my bed staring up at him with fear in the eyes he can't see and I can't see out of.

"What? 20% c-chance of w-what?" I choke out and I hear Martyn sigh.

"A 20% chance you'll never see again."


	3. Dead Man Walking

I must have started to cry because i can feel the fabric of the bandages dampen and stick to me cheeks. Never see again? All from a simple head cold? i can feel my body shaking and i can hear Martyn shuffle uncomfortably because of it.

"How long have you been feeling ill?" he asks and i choke out an answer.

"A-a week." I'm almost a hundred percent sure he's surprised by that. im not sure how i know that with not being able to see his face of him speaking but something about him just seems surprised.

"That long?" Theres surprise in his voice. I'm so wrapped up in trying to figure out how i know that, that i don't register what he actually said. when i do the shaking stops. not because i feel better but because i feel so much worse that the need to shiver no longer has a place in my over crowded brain that just got a shipment of 'HE THINKS I SHOULD BE DEAD' thoughts.

I open my mouth to confirm it, but the ability to speak most have been tossed with the shaking. Martyn sighs and walks over to my bedside table. I can hear his fingers graze over the wood as he picks something small up off of it.

I flinch when he grips my hand and places what might be a pill into my palm. he closes my fingers around it and takes a step back. He then hands me the glass of water that Toby had just conveniently conjured out of nowhere

"It will help you sleep." I look up at him with unease. i don't want to sleep, i want to know what's happening! I whimper and hesitantly swallow the pill. i take a big gulp of water to wash it down and look to Martyn again as he takes the glass from me.

"Martyn...What's happening?" Martyn doesn't respond at first, and i'm starting to think he enjoys making me have anxiety attacks.

"I'm not entirely sure...Everything points to you having a leech but i didn't think you had enough magic to attract one… but if you've had it for as long as you say you have, and you've been losing as much magic at the rate you are now then by all means you should be dead. if not then surely you would be farther along than this…"

Martyns words calm me down slightly. magic is something i have. something i have excess amounts of. well had...with this...leech? with this thing i feel like i have none at all.

"Leech?" Martyn hunns a yes, seemingly still hung up on the magic thing. he snaps to attention within the minute though and explains to me just what this leech is. it seems it a bit different than the ones you get from swimming in some of the lakes…

"Yea, a leech. its a virus. its called a leech because it acts like one. when one of these things finds you it will suchs all the magic from your body the same way a leech such your blood." That would explain the blindness. a large portion of magic is stored within the eyes. thats why they often glow when you use it… My mind becomes hazy as the sleeping pill starts to work but i listen to what Martyn is saying as best i can.

"They leave the host after around a month of feeding, and we think it moves on to an entirely different magic type. Though most don't realize its magic related untill its too late… you'll die if you lose all our magic.

Anyone that ends up with a leech that doesn't have a constant supply of magic usually do die...i only know of two people that enough magic to survive on their own.. Rythian had one. and when it left i got one. we think its the same one thats just traveling through the magic yogs. I've been working on a way to isolate it and kill it, but it moved on before i could finish it."

"Have you found a way yet?" I ask hope layered in my voice. i want it gone. i want it gone now. i want to feel better and see and move on with my life. i mean what will honeydew inc. do without their only engineer?

"Not yet." The hope fades and i feel the tears well up again. i don't think i'll last the rest of the month...i won't have to worry about being blind, this thing will kill me before that becomes a problem… i lay down on my bed as the sleeping pill starts to take affect. the last thought that fades to the blackness of sleep is 'i'm a dead man walking'


	4. Sight Without Seeing

Well technically I'm not walking but you get the point. The pleasant veil of sleep leaves me, no matter how much I will it not to. I sigh as my senses return enough to hear and process the quiet shuffling a little ways away from my bed. My sigh must had startled the boy because he lets out a small squeak before standing from what I assume is a chair.

"Y-you're awake! I-i'll go get martyn!" Toby moves to go find the forest sprite but from the sound of it, catches the leg of the chair he had been sitting in moments before and stumbles. He manages to steady himself, lingers for a few seconds, then leaves in a hurry. I almost laugh at the blushing face I know he has, even though I can't see it.

My mood is better this morning, well at least I think it's morning. Though I have not forgotten yesterdays events and the rather troubling predicament I have found myself in. I simple feel better today then I have for days and I can't stop it from reflecting in my mood. My headache is no more and the nausea, though still present, is barrable. I have little doubt that these symptoms will worsen again if i try to stand but that is easily solved by never getting up again.

I sigh again as my good mood dampens with the realization that this is likely the only day I have off from work and I will, in fact, have to get up tomorrow. I hear two pairs of footsteps make there way into my room. One light and fluttery, like her afraid he'll hurt something by stepping on the ground to hard, and the other calm and defined, like he knows he has nothing to fear from anyone.

I rest what would be my gaze on the owner of the calm and defined footfalls. His steps continue into the room, but the fluttrly one hangs back at the door.

"Martyn." I nod my head in greeting at the forest sprite and he makes a intrigued hum. Toby stays in the doorway, uncomfortably if his constant shuffling is anything to go by. The forest sprite ignores his friends discomfort in favor of addressing my observation.

"You're much more perceptive them I would have thought you'd be. Most people that suddenly find themselves without one of their senses are to focus on the loss of the one to notice the improvement of the others…" He doesn't seem surprised, just intrigued and maybe slightly amused. I hadn't really thought about the loss of my eyesight. My mind just kinda adapted to not having it.

My other senses compensated, yes, but surely I should have noticed the lack of it. I should have notice I couldn't see Martyn's interested expression. Right? But I did see it...I saw it when I heard it in his voice. I saw Martin's face plain as day as he walked over to me, just from the way he walked. I could see Toby too, in all of his anxious and uncertain glory.

I couldn't use my eyes but my mind didn't seem to care. It didn't even tell me something was wrong. It was like a flip of a switch, and suddenly I didn't need my eyes anymore. I didn't like it. It's like my brain is preparing for life without my sight, like I'll never get it back. I will get it back. Theres only a 20% chance that I wont and I have no reason to think that thats what will happen.

So why does my brain think that?

I must have been spacing out for longer than I thought because Martyn snaps his fingers in front off my face. I'm not sure how I feel when I can see his raised eyebrow without actually seeing anything. I furrow my brow and frown up at him.

"Lalna..? Are you alright?" He asked more out of curiosity then concern. I nod without any real emotion in it to confirm or contradict the notion of the nod. I look away from him and rest my 'gaze' on my hands. My impression is one of deep thought and Martyn pulls his still lingering hand away from my face. It's obvious he knows something is wrong but he doesn't pry, to which I'm grateful.

"Well, we have to leave soon. Otherwise we'll arrive after dark." He says it as though it's the most obvious thing in the world. I might have been able to understand if I knew where he ment to take me, or even what time it was. I glance up at him with the best raised eyebrow look I could manage with what little of my eyebrows showed from behind the bandages.

"I told you, without a constant supply of magic you won't survive this. It doesn't matter how much magic you had before you don't have enough now. For some reason the leech seems to drain magic from you a lot faster then it does for most." Oh. I remember him saying somthing like that. So does that mean he's taking me to his forest? He said he was the only one that had enough magic to wait out the leech on there own so surely he's the only one that has the excess magic to sustain the both of us and the damn parasite.

"Normally I would watch you until the leech left but with the recent string of forest fires I just don't have the time or resources, so you'll be staying with the only other person with the magic needed to keep the both of you alive."

It takes me a minute to realize what he's talking about. Martyn hadn't been the only one that survived the leech alone. There had been two. My brain just erased that information because it had seemed irrelevant. Hadn't seemed like an option. I feel my blood run cold as I grown out the name of the man I would be putting my life in the hands off.

"Rythian…."


End file.
